next time... after claying... put on/off about three coats of glaze/sealer before waxing.

syn or natual wax?

when i apply glaze/wax i alternate direction for each applcation... also alternate the direction i wipe it off... probibly donesn t make any differance... just feel like i am gettin everything covered that way. anal huh

this past week i put about 20 coats over the ghost flames... ooooh aaaaah

 

Just to let you know,when I picked up my 2008 panel it had alot of that transporation film from the trip up from Mexico. I read your thread and what a different the cly bar made in the smoothness of the paint. Thanks again for taking the time and letting us all know about the clay bar.

 

I had a 1968 Impala that had a red pain job. I used a clay bar on it (this was back in 1998). I couldn't believe what came off that paint! It looked good as it was but the bar was turned green! Apparently the previous owner parked under pine trees a lot!

I say definitely give it a go!

 

68... still using laquer... even wax cleaner takes alot of grime off. still get green off our malibu. just don t clay to hard on old paint without a clearcoat

 

My car had been repainted! But valid points for original paint!

 

Thanks for the info on the Clay bars. Until just in the past few months I had never seen them readily available to the average person unless you had a body shop supply store nearby, but I was in Walmart and Meijer's this week and they both have clay bars from Mother's and Meguiar's in the automotive dept. in the same area as you would find cleaners and polishes. They are relatively inexpensive considering, anything to save your paint job is better than having to have your HHR repainted. The clay bars I saw ranged from just a clay bar for 6.99 to and entire kit for 24.99 (I'm guessing the kit had the lubricant in it that was described)

 

Clay bars have been a important tool for me for years.

The clay and Meguires professional compounds have my right hand on cleaning and preping cars for shows.

Also look into the Meguires 2000 unigrit sanding stone it is great for sanding down and blending stone chips you have touched up. Just build up the paint on the chip and then wet sand it out. Follow it up with several polished and then wax.

Also check out the Porter Cable orbiter 6 inch buffer. This is a great tool when used with a foam pad. It is a fool proof buffer that really works. Using it with Meguires Professional cleaner polish it will really fix a lot of paint jobs with out any danger of buffing through.

Also if your not using microfiber rags yet start. These are 1000% better than any towel, cloth or diaper you can use. Today they are faily cheap so please check them out. Walmart has has some good deals on them.

I have shown a black car for 20 years and can tell you I have tried it all. Today we have some great options out there to use. Most are easy and user friendly today vs the past.

Again what was posted on the clay bars is 100% true and if your not using it you should be about 2-4 times a year.

 

Holy Shnikies!!! picked up the Megiuars Smooth Surface kit, used up the whole bottle of spray and one clay bar is toast but DUDE! amazing how much crud is on the paint after a wash! By the time I was done washing/clay/rewashing and waxing it was dark, will see the results in the morning.

Thanks for the info on this process , definitely a must

 

yea i used the clay bar my mothers on my spring edition and i'll tell u what it made a HUGE difference and the paint looks brand new and to have red paint in so. fla. you have to take care of it..... construction all over the place...dump trucks loosin part of loads....my paint had so much stuff in it when u run ur hand down u could feel it......it wasnt smooth...

 

Any idea how well a clay bar would work on a car that was winter driven? Salt can be a pain to clean off.